Microsoft Announces $399 Surface Go Tablet

Rumors have been circulating for a while now that Microsoft was planning to release a smaller and cheaper entry in the Surface series of products, and the Redmond company has finally unveiled its much-anticipated new device. The cheaper tablet is named the Surface Go and will carry a price tag of $399.

The screen size of the Surface Go tablet measures in at 10 inches, which puts the Go in line with Apple’s iPad 2018. The heart of the Surface Go is Intel’s Pentium Gold 4415Y Kaby Lake chip, which is a dual-core CPU with low power consumption and hyperthreading. The integrated HD 615 GPU is responsible for the graphics. The display has a 3:2 aspect ratio and an 1800 x 1200 resolution. The camera at the front can be used for Windows Hello facial recognition.

The $399 model will come with 4 gigabytes of internal memory as well as 64 gigabytes of storage, but variants with 8 GB of RAM and 128 or 256 GB will also be available. Something to note is that the Surface Go can read MicroSD cards to easily expand the storage. LTE will be available on the more expensive models. According to Microsoft, the battery life of the tablet should be around nine hours with normal use.

Regarding the operating system, Microsoft has equipped its Surface Go with Windows 10, although S-mode is enabled. S-mode can be considered to be a lighter version of the regular Windows 10 with limited access to x86 programs, but users can easily upgrade the OS to the ‘full’ Windows 10 Home experience.

Connectivity wise, the Surface Go is outfitted with a USB Type C 3.1 port, as well as the Surface Connect port for use with a docking station.

As is the case with most Surface products, you’ll be able to purchase fitting accessories. Type covers will be available for $99, and the new smaller device also offers full support for the $99 Surface Pen.

The Microsoft Surface Go can be pre-ordered right now and will be available starting August 2nd. It’s likely that the LTE-variant will release a couple of months later.